Union of the Force
The Union of the Force is a group run by Jor Halcyon. It's had two conceptions throughout galactic history, the first time under the United Systems Federation, and the second under the League of Non-Aligned Systems. It's symbol, the golden lion head was originally the symbol for the Emperors Sardaukar troops from the novel Dune, by Frank Herbert. Many of the Unions inspirations come from the days of Imperial Rome and the Roman Military. Original Union The Union of the Force is an order of light side Force users. Members swear an allegiance to the Force, their Conscious, and the Federation. The Union was Founded, 11/8/07 by Jor Halcyon, an ex Jedi Knight who was disappointed with the Jedi's lack of action in the galaxy. So, he took his views of the Force and formed the Union of the Force, in order to create a order of force users that would really make a positive impact on the galaxy as a whole. The Union of the Force is dedicated to teaching their view of the force to all who will listen. Classes are taught on board the Unions flagship, Temple of Union, which can be found in orbit around the Federation planet, Mon Calamari 95% of the time. The Union is strongly opinionated and focuses on non violence and the prevention of future violence. To this end, it's members are bound by their honor to try and resolve conflicts through non violent and logical means and that use of violence, while not forbidden, is taken extremely seriously. To join the Union, one must take a trip to the Temple of Union. There, the members must talk to either the Cardinal in charge of Recruitment, or in some cases, the Pillar himself. Upon first entering, you are considered an Initiate and your membership is considered to be a "Trial Run" which lasts for a few days. If you feel Union life is not to your liking, you may leave without anyone thinking less of you. If you decided to stay, you go from Initiate to Brother (Or Sister). Brothers are the missionaries of the Union. Many Union members decided to stay Brothers through most of their life because it offers the most opportunity to help others and travel. Brothers are the ones most often given missions and are considered to be both the Protectors and the helpful arm of the Union. After spending time as a Brother, attending classes aboard the Temple of Union and expanding your knowledge abilities with the force you may be given the option to apply for canonization. Once canonized, you become a Father (Or Mother). Fathers are the backbone of the Union. They teach the classes, they organize missions and maintain the Union as a whole. They are the preachers and the teachers. Often, they travel with young Brothers on missions in order to turn the mission into a learning experience and to monitor the progress brothers make in their schooling. Cardinals, are Fathers (or Mothers) who have been appointed to a position of leadership amongst the other Fathers. The numbers of Cardinals vary, depending on what the Pillar thinks. Cardinals are Fathers put in charge of things like Recruitment, Resources, Missions, Tactical and Strategy, or Public Relations. While the number varies, there is most always an odd number of members so they can perform their most important function. When the Pillar dies, or retires, the Cardinals elect one amongst them to become the next Pillar. The Pillar, is named so because he is literally, the Pillar upon which the Union is built. The Pillar makes the decisions and passes them down to the Fathers to be carried out. If a student asks a question that isn't answered in the Union's beliefs already, then it is the Pillar who makes the decision on where the Union of the Force stands on that particular issue. The Union of the Force is directly accountable to the Federation. The Federation needs help, the Union is there, always. The Democracy of the Federation is the only power higher then the Pillar, and while the Federation can not dictate Union Dogma, they can cut funding for the Union and it's students. Should a Union member break a law, they don't go back to the Fathers for punishment, they sent directly to Federation court and tried by a jury of their peers. Also, the Federation is the only body that can force the resignation of a Pillar. Should the majority vote be cast that the Pillar isn't upholding his oath to the Federation, the Cardinals will Then elect another who will. History Jor originally formed the Union of the Force under the USF. He'd left the Jedi after feeling that it's leadership wasn't taking the Jedi in the direction it needed to go. He went to his friends, Celestial and Princes Kitana and asked them permission to start a group of Force sensitives. They agreed and Jor formed the first Union of the Force. The Union of the Force was made to be the Federations primary internal and external intelligence agency. Jor lead a small team to begin with. Some of the fist members included Zyla Bram and Drake Hellion. Initially the Union performed simple criminal investigations and several intelligence gathering missions at it's onset. It's members got quite a bit of experience under their belt running these missions. The entire Union was retasked as an elite military group after the planet Ossus came under attack by an unknown extragalactic invasion force which was later revealed to be a Yuuzhan Vong attack force. The Union performed an amazing rescue operation on Ossus, rescuing nearly 120 people. Jor was captured during the operation and was later rescued by his team. Jor was extensively injured during his captivity, both mentally and physically. He took some time off and left the Union of the Force for the Unknown Regions. Zyla Bram took up the leadership position of Provisional Pillar. She led the Union against the Yuuzhan Vong. The Yuuzhan Vong seemed to disappear after that and the Union dissipated. Eventually the Federation broke apart and the Union with it. New Union The Union is an intelligence organization for the League of Non-Aligned Systems. It was formed by Jor originally as a force sensitive organization for the United Federation of Systems. When the Federation and the Empire eventually reformed back into the Republic, Jor dropped the Union and became a knight in the Jedi order. Not his favorite line of work but he did it just the same. When Centauri Prime and Ilium formed the League of Non-Aligned systems Jor felt it was a perfect opportunity to get back into the intelligence business and away from fighting wars for people. The Government of Ilium agreed whole heartily and even while the Centauri warrior cast was skeptical, they agreed as well and the Union was formed as the LONAS intelligence organization. Dropping the "Of Force" from the Union of the force, Jor reformed the original Union into a much more intelligence orientated organization. Members technically are officer in the LONAS Military allowing them to take command of military units when required, but most of the time they are considered civilian workers rather then military men and women. Union head Quarters were set up in the unexplored system of M-234P for maximum secrecy and security. The Union doesn't care about force sensitivity when recruiting but Jor likes to recruit people with particular talents. Prior background isn't picked at to keenly either. Former criminals my find employment in the Union just the same as saints might. Jor figures that criminals may just have the mindset and experience for a lot of the activities involved in intelligence gathering. Joining If you want to join the Union there's one simple step. write up a resume and post it here. Just post a few paragraphs on who you are, what you've done that the Union would be interested in and any skills you have that will be of use to the Union or the League of Non-Aligned systems. You won't necessarily start out at the lowest rank possible (warrior recruit). Your starting rank will be decided by me after reviewing your resume. If your resume tells me you have the skills and responsibility to uphold a higher rank, then you'll start higher. Advancement Once joining the Union you'll be eligible for advancement from your original rank. When you go up in rank you raise in pay as well. Advancement through the ranks is fairly simple. First, here is ranking structure. # Warrior Recruit # Legionnaire # Optio # Centurion # Lieutenant # Commander # Shipmaster # Imperator # Admiral # Warmaster The structure is broken into sections. Advancing up through a section requires only that you do your job to the best of your ability, you respect your supervisors and you don't screw up to much. However, to advance up to a different section, it requires a recommendation for advancement from someone within a higher section then you are currently. So for instance, say you are a Legionnaire and you want to advance to Optio. It would require a recommendation for advancement be sent to me by someone of Optio rank or higher. The exception to this general rule is to make it from Lieutenant to Commander. For that you need to attend Starship Command School. SCS consists of two parts. First is the request stage. Send in a request for SCS and some information will be sent for you to study. When you've had enough time to study you'll go through the second part. The second part is a 5 question quiz which can range from anything from naming your ship nomenclature or being given a situation and a asked how you would resolve it. When these questions are answered you'll be moved up in rank but won't be given a full time command until your deemed ready.